Metis vow to fight after Grits’ reported exclusion

Marie Briand, secretary of the Unama’ki Voyageurs Metis Nation, stands with a Metis flag at her home in Grande Greve on Wednesday. (STEVE WADDEN)

SYDNEY — Premier Stephen McNeil has agreed to a request by Mi’kmaq chiefs in Nova Scotia who have asked the province to deny recognition to those who claim Metis heritage, according to documents obtained under a freedom of information request.

Greg Burke and Marie Briand, regional chief and secretary of the Unama’ki Voyageurs Metis Nation, say the documents they received show their organization will have to take the province to court to gain recognition Metis have won in Western Canada.

“What we’re seeking is the recognition promised to us, and because the provincial government has refused to do that … we’re going to go to court,” Burke said Wednesday.

“If we’re going to go to court, we’re going to go for a reasonable amount. It’s going to be somewhere around $3 billion that we want compensation for our lands being stolen, our sovereign nation being stolen from us, and for the genocide our ancestors and my ancestors suffered.”

Burke, a financial planner in Halifax, said the Unama’ki Metis have signed a treaty with the Metis Federation of Canada and are looking for a law firm that can handle the Nova Scotia claim for compensation.

Briand, a resident of Grande Greve, Richmond County, said the Liberal government has refused several times to meet with the Metis to discuss the issue, despite promising recognition during the last election campaign.

“At least they should have afforded us the decency of meeting with us,” she said.

“Instead, they prefer to waste our money and go to court. In the Constitution, it says we are Metis. Does Nova Scotia not belong to Canada? The Constitution, does it not apply to us in Nova Scotia? No, evidently it does not.”

The Assembly of Nova Scotia Mi’kmaq Chiefs unanimously passed a resolution in December expressing concern over the establishment of other aboriginal groups, including Metis, who claim aboriginal rights in the province under Section 35 of the Constitution.

“The assembly asserts the Mi’kmaq have title claim to all of Nova Scotia’s lands and resources, rejecting any claims of historical presence of Metis communities in Nova Scotia,” the resolution says.

“The aboriginal and treaty rights, as affirmed and recognized by Section 35, to access resources in Nova Scotia belong exclusively to the Mi’kmaq of Nova Scotia.”

In a letter to the premier accompanying the resolution, dated Dec. 19, assembly co-chairman and Membertou Chief Terry Paul said Mi’kmaq “have been the sole aboriginal residents of Nova Scotia since time immemorial and have never ceded rights or title to this territory.”

“While we continue to share our lands with others, the aboriginal rights of this region belong exclusively to the Mi’kmaq.”

In a response from the premier, dated Jan. 16, McNeil wrote that the province respects Mi’kmaq aboriginal and treaty rights and remains committed to clarifying those through negotiation.

“With respect to groups and individuals who identify as Metis and assert aboriginal and treaty rights, the courts have consistently rejected these assertions and the provincial government will continue to be guided by the courts on these matters.”

A Membertou spokeswoman said Paul is on holidays and would not be available for comment.

McNeil’s press secretary, Laurel Munroe, said the premier would not be available either, but added the government’s position remains the same.

Metis in Nova Scotia have been fighting for court recognition for years, although provincial courts have consistently ruled against them.

Burke said those cases were lost for various reasons, but at no time was there a ruling that Metis don’t exist in this province. Instead, the cases have come down to whether specific Metis maintained a historic community in the region prior to effective control by Europeans.

The Unama’ki Metis are also upset with Cape Breton-Richmond MLA Michel Samson, saying he made a campaign promise last year to recognize Metis if the federal courts ruled in their favour.

Burke said since the spring Supreme Court decision equating Metis with Indian, the provincial Liberals have changed their tune and are now waiting for a provincial court ruling.

“To boil it down, it’s all about money,” he said. “We’re entitled to the federal funding … as well as we’re entitled to the inherited rights through the provincial government, and they refuse to give it to us.”

Sipekne’katik band Chief Rufus Copage and Waycobah Chief Rod Googoo said the issue is about territorial rights and title, not money.

Copage said the Mi’kmaq have a treaty that spells out aboriginal rights, but Metis have no treaty, even though they are mentioned in the Constitution.

“If they get recognition here in the province, next thing you know they will want hunting rights,” he said. “The Constitution doesn’t give me a right to hunt. The treaty gives me a right to hunt.”

Googoo said the courts have recognized Metis in Western Canada because, historically, the offspring of mixed aboriginal and non-aboriginal marriages there were shunned by both societies, forcing them to create a separate community.

“It’s not that we have a problem with the Metis,” he said. “The fact is what happened out west didn’t happen here. It’s like comparing apples and oranges. We absorbed the offspring into our tribe and they became, over the years, full status native people.”